Interview with Wu Xian (Associate Professor, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Central University)
Q 1: I heard that the average person's brain only uses one tenth. Is it true?/You don't say. Is the brain development course useful?
A: This statement has no scientific basis at all. In fact, when there were no advanced instruments to observe the operation of the brain in the early days, many neurologists had already seen that patients would have different cognitive disorders due to strokes in different brain regions, some of which were vision and hearing, and some were language and memory. Scientists concluded more than a hundred years ago that different brain regions have different functions, and it is impossible for only one tenth of the brain to be functional.
When the instruments are more advanced, we can observe the operation of normal people's brains. We find that even at rest, neurons in the brain are constantly activated, and the activated areas are quite wide. What's more, when we seriously solve mathematics or think about problems, we will never rely on only one tenth of the brain. Therefore, it can be judged that most of the so-called brain development courses on the market are advertising gimmicks and have no scientific basis.
Q2: It is said that brain cells stop growing after a certain age, so there is a saying that "three years old is a lifetime". Should parents worry that their children will miss the critical period of study?
A: Now, people have seen that the elderly, even terminally ill patients, are endowed with new cells and new connections in the brain to cope with new learning, especially in the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory functions. Research continues to find new evidence that lifelong learning of the brain is possible and that the brain has the ability to regenerate and make new connections during its lifetime. Because the brain is learning all its life and making connections, there is no real starting point, and it may be the beginning of learning new skills at any time.